Huawei to build brand and compete on high-end device market

In Zambia, Huawei was considered the maker of small, low-budget, dual-SIM, non-internet enabled phones until slowly the mobile market saw Huawei smartphones begin to place themselves on the display counter next to some big brands, like Samsung and Apple. In a report on GSMA’s Mobile World Live,  Huawei has said that it will continue to work on its brand awareness worldwide.

Glory Zhang, who is Chief Marketing Officer of Huawei’s consumer group said the global brand awareness increased to 76% last year from 65% in 2014, and added that the company will focus on creating “a new visual expression” and introducing new digital marketing initiatives.

Huawei rotating CEO Eric Xu said:

“As you may know, up until now, China has not yet produced a high-end consumer brand. Therefore we want to take that as a mission, and hopefully in the next five to ten years we can do that.”

We’ll see, but for now brand awareness is becoming more active even in Zambia, as Huawei starts to make users more aware of its presence here through brand partnerships, pop-up service stands at shopping malls, and offering promotions through its partner retailers.

Last year Huawei posted shipments of over 100 millon smartphones globally, with only Apple and Samsung up ahead of it.

 

What could make Huawei the big dog in mobile is if they maintain their high-quality-but-affordable-price status they’ve maintained even when their devices are shipped to other countries. The battle with high-end devices in Zambia is the amount users have to pay to get their hands on one. It could be the one device maker of premium devices that more people in developing countries can afford without having to be get a loan.

They could but yet, still target the higher-income section of the population with some of their devices, but then they need to make sure their features and performance surpass that of their rivals.

Let the Game of Phones begin!